Demand Support Model Of Work Stress In Corrections

Everyday crimes are committed. Some of these offenses committed by perpetrators are more severe than others, and cause the individuals who carry out the crimes to be sentenced to time in the county or prison facilities. At the forefront of protecting these criminals from committing more crimes and jeopardizing the public’s safety are correctional officers. The main goal of corrections work is the safe and secure management and rehabilitation of justice-involved individuals, whether in locked facilities or within community supervision programs (Denhof, 1). Although, correctional officer’s sole job is to provide care, custody, and control for perpetrators, correctional officers have another job. That task is not to become subdued by the stress

But systems of power may fail for other reasons as well. Those who are in charge may not be willing to exert their power. There may be some corruption among the custodians. Custodians are in close proximity to the prisoners so there may be some blackmail involved in not taking action when supposed to. “In the second place, the guard’s position as a strict enforcer of the rules is undermined by the fact that he finds it almost impossible to avoid the claims of reciprocity” (Sykes, 1958, 56). Third reason is the constant infringement of the guards’ dominance by prisoners. Some of the inadequacies of prison officials have been said to be linked to the fact more than fifty percent of the guards are temporary employees. There is also the low salary for the guards. The job is not seen as very glamorous or worthwhile as well (Sykes,

Management positions in prisons are known to be very demanding. Correctional facilities are difficult to operate and are forced to deal with overcrowding which leads to an outnumbered staff and a continuous flow of violent and dangerous inmates. An issue that management faces is the occurrence of riots. According to dictionary.com, a riot is a disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons acting together in a disrupting and tumultuous manner in carrying out their private purposes. Some riots are characterized by organization and demands, others by weak and confused formation of leadership, or conflict and violence among inmates themselves. In some riots, prisoners inflict suffering on hostages, inmates treat hostages well,

Most of his time at Sing Sing was consumed being in close contact with the inmates, in dining halls and housing galleries, doing strip searches, searching cells, writing disciplinary infraction reports, and confiscating inmate contraband. In addition, because they live in an enforced state of near powerlessness, answering to inmates who required support with a seemingly endless range of personal complications occupied much of Conover’s time. Conover’s account of the correctional officer’s role is consistent with those opinions offered by others who have firsthand experience of prison life. Virtually all serious, firsthand interpretations of correctional work define a gap between the training and the realism of the job, official policies and procedures that require routine avoidance, poor associations between line officers and administrators, and the undermining power of stress on professional conduct and personal life.

The author of Descent into Madness discusses how systems of criminal justice that engage in high levels of disorganization become nothing short of a breeding ground for discontentment among prison inmates. The other main point is that prison staff psychologically are hungry for power. This manifests in the myriad of ways that they treat the inmates in an effort to feel powerful through by retribution through their

Just as Conover explains and reveals, it takes years to become a professional in the field. Reading Conover’s text, gives a lot of important information and was something unique that I haven't read before. Before reading New Jack, I didn't imagine that working in a prisons could be so difficult. Hearing the information from someone that has experienced prisons in the United States and the ways facilities, corrections officers, and inmates function with one another, has helped me get a better

Journalist, Ted Conover expresses an interest in writing a book about the lives of prison guards by proposing to the New York Department of Correctional Services to interview corrections officers, but his access is denied. He then decides to immerse himself into the culture and apply for a correctional officer position. After a brief training, Conover is randomly assigned to Sing Sing as a “newjack” or a rookie, to one of the most infamous maximum security male prisons in the United States. He meets other officers with goals of becoming involved in law enforcement; ex-military looking for a demanding, disciplined and tactical position; and those who just need a steady job with dependable benefits for their families. Some of these individuals are frantic enough to commute hours on end to make a living wage.

At any given time, a single corrections officer, can expect to be outnumbered by upwards of 400 inmates (Conover, 2011). It can be chilling to work in the midst of hundreds of inmates, some of which initiate attacks and inappropriate relationships. However, other issues have impacted the psychological health and physical safety of the staff. Detrimental factors have included heavy workloads, the prisons physical structure, and a lack of support from both peers and superiors. Each workplace issue has been in addition to role problems, specifically role ambiguity and role conflict (Schaufeli & Peeters, 2011). It is believed that anyone of these undesirable facets of prison should be enough to deter the public from attempting to enter such

Training is how employee’s learn about the job and they also learn with continuous training, but corrections have cut the budget in such a way that the training of officers have been shorten or don’t provide the necessary training in order to prepare them for all of the situations in which they will encounter, this will put their lives at risk. The administration and state legislature have traded the safety of it employees for saving money. In a study by Kelly Dial showed, “In sum how emotional dissonance, role conflict, task control and direct contact with inmates are linked to correctional job stress” (Dial.2010). When officers and administrations are educated and trained they are less likely to be stress and will be able to handle any situation they may be caught in. In this line of work it is important that the employees are well trained in the new techniques and the latest information so they will be greater informed than the inmates they are guarding. According to Gary Cornelius, “Training must be dynamic and should discuss issues that are extremely important to correctional Staff. Knowledge keeps us safe; knowledge keeps us skilled” (Cornelius.2012). By training officers, it will give them the knowledge to the best job they can because they have receive the appropriate training to handle

As crime coexists with humanity, the presence of the police force ensures the suppression of crime and the safety for our society. Every occupation has its own work stress. What is unique is all the different stress found in one job. Aside from the heroic services police officers perform in their duty, they experience overwhelming stress in their daily duty. Police stress refers to the negative pressures related to police work (Police Stress, n.d.). In order to maintain peace and order, there must be an effective police force up and running. For that to happen, departments need to be aware and deal with the negative effects caused by police stress. Whereas, police officers must conquer their stress in order to work at their

A prison warden is the chief executive of the institution and oversees the entire operation within a prison system. A prison warden needs to possess an array of skills that is capable of managing “large groups of employees, and to operate facilities in a way that keeps inmates, staff, and society safe” (Clear et al., 2013, p. 321). Studies from Clear et al. (2013) further indicate that today’s prison warden must function effectively despite decreased autonomy and increased accountability” (p. 321). The role and responsibility of a prison warden are comparable to a police chief’s because it requires extensive knowledge in administration, and experience in various areas within the department or institution.

Correctional officers are generally considered to be at the bottom of the staff hierarchy. The five types of power that are available to correctional officers in an institution are legitimate power, coercive power, reward power, expert power and referent power. First, the legitimate power is available to correction officers similar to the power that is available a chain of command in organizations. Second, the coercive power establishes a structural relationship of the prisoner and the prison guard by maintaining discipline amongst the prison population. Third, the reward power is when correctional officers utilizing formal and informal rewards to influence cooperation among prison inmates. Additionally, this places correctional officers in

As a new warden at a large prison in America, I have noticed that the prison is plagued with several physical quarrels and gang loyalties that are divided along racial lines. In addition, the prison staff has had several problems that are related to racial identity as evident in staff arrangement based on racial groups during a turnout before shift-change. When the prison tried to plan for diversity training, there was a record-breaking employee absenteeism as well as increased employee disputes and arguments. It's quite evident that employees attitude in this prison is significantly affected by racial groupings, which in turn has a major effect on their job satisfaction. This paper examines the issue of employee attitude and satisfaction at the prison, which is characterized with difficult working environment and ineffective attempts to enhance employee racial relations. The evaluation is based on the use of several sources whose credibility is based on the publishers and their contributions to the criminal justice field.

Can we develop insights into the dynamics of the staff-inmate relationship that may be relevant to the study of other closed institutions?

Organizational stress affects many officers but is not as obvious as other stressors that take place. Police departments vary in size and resources, in spite of this, most organizational structures of departments follow a hierachial bureaucracy. Organizational stressors may include